Privacy policy

This is how we use your personal information.

This is the privacy policy for npower Business. We encourage you to read this policy thoroughly so you know how we use your information, who we share it with as well as understanding your rights. We are committed to collecting and using your information fairly and in accordance with the requirements of data protection law.

Your personal information (also known as personal data) is information which, on its own or in conjunction with other information we may have access to, can be used to identify you as a living individual and to provide you with appropriate products and services. If you are a limited company this may only include your employees’ personal business contact details such as business email addresses and phone numbers. If you are a sole trader or partnership more of the data we hold on your business will be classified as personal data such as financial information and energy consumption data.

This policy sets out how we collect, store, share and use the personal information we already hold about you and any we may obtain from you or from a third party in the future.

We take your privacy seriously and take appropriate steps to protect the personal information we collect from you and to make sure that your personal information is kept secure and only used in line with this policy.

If you have any questions or wish to change your level of consent all the details you need to contact us are in the "How can I get in touch?" section.

Our Data Protection Officer provides help and guidance to assist us in meeting our obligations and to ensure we protect the data we hold about you. In addition you have certain rights.

You can find out more about npower on our website at npower.com and see the most recent copy of our privacy policy.

We need to ask you to provide certain personal and business information for the products and services we provide to you, for example, we need the information to set up and manage your account and to verify who you are. It may be obtained directly from you when we speak to you, via our website if you complete an online form or get a quotation, or from another third party organisation or person.

We'll tell you if providing that information is optional including where we may require your consent to use your information for specified purposes.

Information we collect:

From you

We will collect information about you and your business as requested by our online sign up process, over the phone or through any forms that you may complete. For example, we collect the following to assist us in setting up your account and to verify who we are dealing with:

Full name (including title)

Age/date of birth.

Business address (which may include your previous business addresses if you have been at your current address for less than 2 years)* , registered office address (if you are registered with Companies House) and addresses of any site(s) your business operates from*.

Home address (which may include your previous home addresses if you have lived in your current address for less than 2 years).

Business address, registered office address (if you are registered with Companies House) and addresses of the site(s) your business operates from.

Business telephone number, mobile number and email address (which may include asking for your personal contact details depending on how you wish to be contacted).

Business and / or personal bank account and debit or credit card details.

Financial details to perform a credit check to assess the ability of you / your business to pay and to assess your financial position should we need to in the future.

Meter details such as the meter serial number, MPAN or MPRN.

Gas and electricity usage (energy consumption data) (via meter reads provided by you or our agents or taken remotely if you have a fully working AMR meter or a smart meter if we have installed it or if we can support its functions).**

Occupier and landlord details for your site(s).

Information about other products and services that you have with us so we can target our communications with you more effectively.

Physical or mental health (such as disabilities or critical illness) to assess if we will designate you as a vulnerable customer.

Details of any residential premises at your site which you are responsible for maintaining the supply for, for assessing things like vulnerability (including if the occupier is disabled or for reasons of age or health).

* this information will only constitute personal data where you are a sole trader or a partnership

** this information will only constitute personal data where you are a sole trader or a partnership or where the meter is associated with premises occupied by a sole trader, partnership or domestic customer.

From you about other people

If you provide information on behalf of anyone else then in doing so you are confirming that you have explained how their information may be used by us and they have given you permission to do so.

If you have provided any sensitive information about yourself or others (such as health related information) you agree (and are confirming that the person who the information is about agreed) that we can use the information in accordance with this policy.

From third parties

Industry organisations who are involved in your gas or electricity (or both) supply like distribution and network companies, meter equipment owners, meter readers, other energy suppliers as well as from industry organisations who operate and maintain databases on behalf of the industry to assist (for example) in the change of supply process.

Landlords or letting agents who provide your details so we can set up an account in your name or from third party agents like brokers who you authorise to carry out your switch to us.

Agents like meter readers (who check your meter to see if it is safe, obtain a read so we can bill you or assist in sorting out meter issues) or debt collection agents or other service providers who are contracted by us to provide services to you on our behalf.

Credit reference or fraud prevention agencies in relation to your repayment history or your credit rating which may include public information such as insolvency information, county court judgments against you and directorships.

Credit reference or fraud prevention agencies and other publicly available information (see below) to identify you if you have not told us who you are (i.e. your account is set up in the name of an 'occupier') or we need to trace you or people linked to you because you owe us money.

Publicly available sources like the electoral roll or phone or business directories (for example 192.com) or from the Land Registry or Companies House to verify your information or to trace you if you have moved without paying your bill.

Your Smart meter in relation to your energy consumption information from either agents appointed on our behalf or from the industry organisation set up to do so (once they are in a position to do so). See the section headed “Use of your energy consumption data (AMR and smart)”

Credit reference agencies and other external data sources and other companies we may partner with to create models based on previous campaigns to see what products and services to offer you.

Other companies where you have given them your consent to share your personal information with us to market our products and services to you.

Other companies or organisations where you have given them your consent to share your personal information with us so we can see if you are eligible for additional financial assistance.

Other companies like brokers where you sign up to our products and services through their contact centres.

From our website

We collect certain data automatically from your visit to our website (npower.com). This may include but is not limited to how you connect to the internet (including IP addresses), how you engage with our site and browser data stored on your device (for example cookies - see our cookie policy).

We can only use your personal information in compliance with data protection laws. Those laws require that where we use your personal information we must satisfy one condition (a legal basis) for processing. The legal bases are consent, to comply with our legal obligations, to perform a contract, if it's in our legitimate interests and for special category data (health) it is in your vital interests.

Set out below are the different legal bases we use in npower Business as well as examples of the types of processing we carry out:

Legal basis for processing

Processing activities (purposes)

Processing activities (purposes)

Processing activities (purposes)

Processing activities (purposes)

Processing activities (purposes)

Consent

Where you have provided consent we will rely on that to process your information for the purposes set out at the time that the request for consent was made.

You can change that consent at any time (either by giving or withdrawing it).

The consequence of withdrawing your consent might be that we are no longer able to do certain things for you.

Meter readings

To collect and use your smart meter energy consumption data at a half-hourly level.

Cookies

We use cookies on our website to collect information about the device you use to access our website or sometimes third parties collect that on our behalf.

You are asked to agree to this before using our website. If you refuse consent or you later remove it you may affect our ability to provide the services you want.

From time to time if you have agreed we may provide you with marketing information about our products and services as well as offers from our partners (including by phone, text message, email, via your smart energy display unit and via e-marketing i.e. using the internet and digital media technologies (for example social media)), which we think may benefit you.

We generally ask for consent when you sign up with us but you can change your mind at any time.

Market research

We may ask you to participate in market research (such as surveys, participation in focus groups etc.) to help improve and benchmark the way we provide our services and products that we are able to make available to you - if you agree your feedback is given with your consent.

You agree to the disclosure

If you request us to disclose your personal data to a third party to deal with your account on your behalf or you otherwise agree to such disclosures.
When we process any special categories of personal information at your or our request (e.g. data concerning your health).

Legal basis for processing

Processing activities (purposes)

Processing activities (purposes)

Processing activities (purposes)

Processing activities (purposes)

Processing activities (purposes)

Performance of our contract with you

To provide products and services or to take steps at your request prior to entering into that contract

The information will be provided to us by you because you want to engage with us or take our products and services.

Our use of your information will be governed by your contract terms. It is up to you if you provide it but if you do not it may affect the products and services you want.

To help us identify you so we know who we are talking to and authenticate the information you provide for security purposes. We may check against information we already hold about you as an energy supplier.

To set up and manage your account including processing and collecting payments, recovering debts, analysing your account history and improving our service to you.

Sending you service messages such as account notifications and communications, account features and benefits and other terms and conditions changes.

To supply you with any products or services you have asked us for such as the supply of gas or electricity (or both), which may include passing your details on to third parties and partnerships to fulfil offers or cashback to you.

To enable you to access our website (including your online account if you have one) to use our services.

To set you up in the appropriate industry systems based on agreed industry processes when you change your supply to or away from us including obtaining meter reads, resolving metering disputes etc.

To measure your gas or electricity use (or both) and to work out your bills.

To provide and improve customer support.

To set up your Business Rewards account if this is offered as part of your business energy contract.

To resolve complaints and query resolution.

To train our staff and monitor our services. This may involve us recording our conversations with you or keeping copies of our correspondence with you to make sure we are providing you with a good service and are keeping to our legal and regulatory obligations.

To run our business in an efficient and proper way. This includes managing our financial position, business capability, planning, communications, corporate governance, and audit.

Legal basis for processing

Processing activities (purposes)

Processing activities (purposes)

Processing activities (purposes)

Processing activities (purposes)

As necessary for our own Legitimate Interests

This is where we use your personal information for our normal business purposes where the benefits of doing so are not outweighed by your fundamental rights or freedoms.

You have a right to object to this type of processing but in some cases our right will override yours.

To help prevent and detect crime such as fraud and money laundering where this is not covered by our legal requirements and we are processing your personal information to help reduce the cost of this activity being spread across all customers by way of increased prices.

To run our business in an efficient and proper way. This includes managing our financial position, business capability, planning, communications, corporate governance, and audit.

To send you service messages, notifications and communications (including where you are required to receive them as part of having an online account).

To assist in debt prevention and debt recovery which may include tracing where you have moved to and identifying who is responsible for taking supply.

For demand forecasting and settlement to assist us in purchasing energy more efficiently.

To carry out performance reviews, monitoring, modelling and analysis, energy purchasing, pricing, reporting, profiling, auditing, market research (where the analysis is carried out by third parties who do not provide us with your details unless we have your specific consent to do so and may extend beyond energy usage to include payment history etc.) and statistical analysis to assist us in ensuring we can comply with legal and regulatory requirements (including those set out in our licence conditions and industry codes) as well as to help improve the way we provide our services and the products that we are able to make available to you.

To monitor emails, calls, other communications, and activities on your account.

To test systems to help improve the way we provide our services and the products that we are able to make available to you.

To carry out data enrichment and ensure the information we hold is accurate and up to date.

To report to and pay our referral partners such as telesales and brokers.

Web analytics to analyse and better configure our website.

To take part in government or industry initiatives.

To provide you with a quote (which may include a credit check to decide which products and services and payment methods are most suitable for you).

If you have an AMR meter, to collect and use your energy consumption data at a half-hourly level unless you have told us otherwise.

If you have a smart meter, to collect and use your energy consumption data at a daily level unless you have told us otherwise.

If there are residential premises at your site and you are responsible for maintaining their supply, if they are in danger of being cut off (or if you or someone else lives in the residential premise part of your site) or we believe you (or someone who lives in the residential premise part of your site) may need extra help we may record a generic vulnerable marker (not going into any specific details about you or them). This may be a result of health, age or disability to assist you or them and ensure you or they stay on supply.

We will use it to assist us in managing your account so we are aware you may need additional help and support (for example having a bespoke debt pathway), for internal performance review, analysis, reporting and audit purposes (both internally and to report to Ofgem) to ensure our compliance with our obligations and to improve our services to you. We may share your vulnerable information with agents and service providers (like metering companies) who carry out services on our behalf.

Legal basis for processing

Processing activities (purposes)

Processing activities (purposes)

Processing activities (purposes)

Vital Interests

We may need to share your vulnerable information with third parties because we believe you or someone else’s life is in imminent danger.

This will be assessed on an individual basis and we will not share information unless we really believe there is a serious risk.

We may record vulnerable information about you or the occupier of any residential premises at your site(s) that you are responsible for maintaining the supply to if we believe someone at that premise requires extra help. This may be as a result of health, age or disability.

We may give your personal information to others in connection with the purposes set out above, including to the following:

Agents and service providers (including IT service providers who host our databases) to support our business who may have access to our systems and data in order to provide services to us and/or to you on our behalf. For example we outsource some of our customer services activity (such as call handling, metering services, debt collection), and use fulfilment companies to send out our service and marketing communications to you. In addition we work with companies who process payment vouchers and take payments on our behalf (for example the Post Office, Payzone and PayPoint) as well as passing on your information to third parties and partners to fulfil promotional offers and cashback you have asked for.

Agents and service providers acting on our behalf to carry out profiling, modelling and analysis, market and customer research, statistical analysis and the testing of our systems to help improve the way we provide our services and the products that we are able to make available to you. These agents and service providers include creative agencies, professional user experience testing agencies and search engine optimisation agents. We do not provide personal information unless it is specifically required for the services they are providing.

Our legal and professional advisors including our auditors.

Our processors and sub-processors who are involved in the hosting, development and testing of our IT systems.

Other members of the npower group of companies as we may benefit from large IT infrastructure and expertise that exists within our business. This means that your personal information may be accessed for support and administration purposes.

Relevant industry organisations and agencies, based on agreed industry processes who are involved in your gas or electricity (or both) supply like distribution and network companies, transmission companies, meter equipment owners, meter readers, other energy suppliers as well as industry organisations who operate and maintain databases on behalf of the industry to assist (for example) in the change of supply process, collection of green deal payments or the provision of industry data analytics to improve or enhance the energy efficiency in the energy market and/or to improve or enhance the efficiency of our operations compared to other energy suppliers.

If we suspect someone has committed fraud or stolen energy by tampering with the meter or diverting supply we'll record those details on your account and may share that information with Ofgem, the industry appointed TRAS Fraud Prevention Agency (being the organisation appointed on behalf of the energy industry as required under energy suppliers licence conditions to provide a service to all UK energy suppliers to facilitate the prevention, detection and any subsequent investigation of energy theft) and other interested parties such as other energy suppliers, landlords, fraud prevention agencies and other organisations (such as the police) involved in crime and fraud prevention who may also use this information (see the section on 'Theft and fraud prevention' below).

The police, other relevant law enforcement agencies, regulators, public bodies such as local and central authorities (including government agencies/departments) where we have been asked to provide the information for legal or regulatory reasons (such as assessing or collecting tax, investigating complaints or assessing how the energy sector is working) for example by a lawyer or Ofgem or to the Information Commissioner (if we receive a legitimate request for the information).

If you do not pay a debt, we may ask debt recovery agents to pursue that debt on our behalf or we may transfer your debt to another organisation and give them details about you and that debt or we may use a credit reference agency or fraud prevention agency to trace you if you have not provided your contact details or a forwarding address so that we can recover your debt or we may pass your details on as part of current or future legal action.

For regulatory purposes to Ofgem (or any organisation which takes over Ofgem's role) or directly to an agent acting on their behalf.

We may share information with organisations like Step Change and Business Debt Line if you have agreed to us doing so.

We may share information with Members of Parliament or journalists if you have asked them to assist you in dealing with a complaint.

If someone else who is not our customer has agreed with you that they will pay your bills and has provided their payment details to us to do so we will only share your personal information with them (and vice versa) in so far as is strictly required to assist in making those payments.

If an organisation takes over all (or nearly all) of our business or assets, we may pass your personal information to them and we may pass details of any debt you may have with us to your future service provider. You can find further information in your Conditions of supply.

To other parties connected with your account for example if you have provided a delegation of your authority to allow them to assist you in dealing with your account.

You if you make a request to obtain a copy of your information (see the section 'Your rights relating to the personal information we hold about you')

We may share vulnerable information with Social Services, and with medical and healthcare professionals or other similar support agencies and provide this information to other energy suppliers in line with the Energy UK “safety net procedures” if you decide to change supplier. We may also share this information with the relevant gas transporter, metering agents or network operator.

If we suspect that someone has committed fraud or stolen energy by tampering with the meter or interfering with the supply we will record this information on your account and we may share this information (for as long as you have an account with us) on a regular basis (including occupier details, site type and consumption data), with the industry appointed TRAS Fraud Prevention Agency (including their sub-contractors (if any)) who will use that information and that of other customers (whether or not supplied by us) to check public and other databases they hold or have access to so that they can profile geographical, behavioural and other similar trends for the purpose of theft and fraud risk assessment and to generate leads based on that analysis which they will pass on to us for the purpose of preventing and detecting the theft of energy and the prosecution of offenders ('theft leads').

The TRAS Fraud Prevention Agency will hold this information and may provide it to other energy suppliers (where you have an energy account with them) or to Ofgem and other industry bodies in accordance with agreed industry processes and the information may continue to be used even following termination of this agreement where you are supplied by a different supplier.

We may use any information we have collected as well as any theft leads received from third parties including the TRAS Fraud Prevention Agency to (where relevant and appropriate) detect, investigate, pursue (including prosecute) and prevent (in so far as possible) theft and fraud.

If we suspect or confirm that you have committed energy theft a record of this will be kept by us and the TRAS Fraud Prevention Agency. We may use this information to assist us in making decisions about your payment arrangements and the products and services we offer you in the future.

We have set out below how we may share your personal information with credit reference agencies and how they may record and use your personal information.

In order to process your application (for example when you apply to take supply from us or you move site), we will perform credit and identity checks on you with one or more credit reference agencies ('CRAs') as well as using information we already hold about you for internal credit risk and debt management and to help us assess your ability to pay. Where you take products and services from us we may also make periodic searches at CRAs to manage your account with us.

To do this, we will supply your personal and business information to CRAs and they will give us information about you and your business. This may include information from your application and about the financial situation of you and your business. CRAs will supply to us both public (including the Electoral Register) and shared credit, financial situation and financial history information and fraud prevention information.

We will continue to exchange information about you with CRAs while you have a relationship with us. We will also inform the CRAs about your closed accounts. We record your current balance and how you manage your account and may share this information with CRAs. If you owe us money and when requested do not repay in full and on time we may share this information with CRAs. This information may be supplied to other organisations (like banks and other utility companies) by CRAs which may affect your ability to obtain credit.

We will use information we receive from CRAs along with information we already hold about you to:

Assess your creditworthiness and whether you / your business can afford to take the product and/or services;

Verify the accuracy of the data you have provided to us;

Prevent criminal activity, fraud and money laundering;

Manage your account(s);

Trace and recover debts;

Ensure any offers provided to you are appropriate to your circumstances;

To assess your ability to pay versus financial risk to decide on the appropriate debt prevention and recovery activity

When CRAs receive a search from us a search footprint will be recorded that may be seen by other organisations (like banks or other utility companies).

We may also use information obtained from CRAs where you have failed to tell us that you are the owner and/or occupier of the site we supply. In the event that the CRAs are able to positively match your details from their search of information from other companies then we may use that information to follow our internal processes to take steps to set up an account for that site using the details provided by the CRAs. Before we do so we will contact you and provide you with the opportunity to correct any information we have obtained. Where it is clear that you are the owner/occupier of the site and taking energy supply we will set the account up in your name and record the current balance and share that with CRAs. If you owe us money and when requested do not repay in full and on time we may share this information with CRAs which may affect your ability to obtain credit.

The identities of the CRAs, their role also as fraud prevention agencies, the data they hold, the ways in which they use and share personal information, data retention periods and your data protection rights with the CRAs are explained in more detail in the Credit Reference Agency Information Notice (CRAIN). CRAIN is accessible from each of the three CRAs - clicking on any of these three links will also take you to the same CRAIN document:

If you would like to see what information the CRAs hold about you and / or your business, you can contact those currently operating in the UK. The information they hold may not be the same so it is worth contacting them all. They will charge a small statutory fee.

from the date we take over your supply if you already have an AMR meter;

we will use your energy consumption data for the purposes set out in this policy.

We may use your energy consumption data we obtain remotely from your AMR meter for the following purposes:

How your AMR energy consumption data will be used

Monthly

Half hourly

To produce bills based on actual reads reducing the need to estimate your bills.

To provide energy usage for industry purposes in line with industry regulations.

To identify and fix faults or issues with your meter more quickly. The greater the frequency of energy usage provided the easier it will be for us to identify issues with the meter at an earlier stage.

To help us forecast demand for energy.

Levels of energy consumption data
We collect energy consumption data from your AMR meter. This monthly collection of energy consumption data can show us your half-hourly energy usage. You may opt out (object) of us collecting your half-hourly energy consumption data, but you cannot opt out (object) of us collecting and viewing your monthly energy consumption data.

MonthlyMonthly is the minimum level of data we are allowed to take for billing and regulatory purposes.

Half-hourly
Unless you tell us you wish to opt out (object) we will collect and may use your energy half-hourly consumption data from the monthly energy consumption data we collect from your AMR meter. If you prefer us not to collect this level of energy consumption data you can let us know at any time.

Ad hoc (on demand) meter reads
We may take ad hoc (on demand) meter reads. We will do this to maintain accurate billing, to send you a bill after changes to your account (for example if you move site), if we need to use the data to resolve a query or a complaint from you or if we think your meter may have been damaged or compromised in any way. Ad hoc (on demand) meter reads will help us understand the meter's recent activity so that we can diagnose and resolve any problems.

Contacting us to change your level of energy consumption data

Call us: 0330 100 8100or for text phone 0330 100 7557
Lines are open Monday to Thursday from 8:30am to 5:30pm, Friday from 8:30am to 5:00pm.

If you are a landlord and also the bill payer
If you are the landlord or owner of the site we supply and are also the bill payer but you do not occupy the site (or any part thereof), we may only be able to provide you with energy consumption data that is necessary to enable us to meet our contractual and legitimate responsibilities/functions to be carried out (such as billing). We may be able to provide you with more granular energy consumption data if you provide us with your tenants details so that we can contact them, provide them with the purposes for which we will use their energy consumption data and seek their consent to provide you with more granular energy consumption data.

Multiple meters
If your site has multiple meters, also known as related meters, (for example because you have outbuildings which have separate meters on one supply) then the level of energy consumption data use you agree to will be the level of energy consumption data use that will apply to all the meters.

the date we notify you we are able to utilise the functionality of a Smart meter that a previous supplier fitted; or

the date we take over your supply and your Smart meter functionality is already available to us (as appropriate)

we will use the energy consumption data for the purposes set out in this policy.

We may use the energy consumption data we obtain remotely from your Smart meter for the following purposes:

How your smart energy consumption data will be used

Monthly

Daily

Half-hourly

To produce bills based on actual reads reducing the need to estimate your bills.

To track trends in energy consumption and analyse your energy consumption data and compare it over time with other customers’ usage so we can develop tailored products and services for you (this won’t include using your energy consumption data for marketing purposes unless you’ve already agreed that we can). The greater the frequency of energy usage we can obtain the more tailored the products and services we can offer to meet your specific needs.

To calculate your energy usage and any debt or credit accrued.

To provide energy usage for industry purposes in line with industry regulations.

To identify and fix faults or issues with your meter more quickly. The greater the frequency of energy usage provided the easier it will be for us to identify issues with the meter at an earlier stage.

To help us forecast demand for energy.

To carry out internal reporting, modelling and analysis to understand our customers better. Provision of daily and/or half hourly energy usage will give us a more detailed view of our customers and how they use energy to help us understand our customer needs better, help improve the way we provide our services and the types of services we offer as well as enabling us to develop the right types of products for our customers.

Levels of energy consumption data
We collect energy consumption data from your Smart meter daily. This daily collection of consumption data also allows us to calculate your monthly energy use. You may opt out (object) of us collecting and viewing your daily energy consumption data but you cannot opt out (object) of us receiving monthly consumption data.

Monthly
Monthly is the minimum level of energy consumption data we are allowed to take for billing and regulatory purposes.

Daily
Unless you tell us you wish to opt out (object), we will be able to collect and use your energy consumption data at a daily level from the daily collection of energy consumption data. If you would prefer us not to collect this daily level of energy consumption data you can let us know at any time.

Half-hourly
If you permit us to, not only will we collect your monthly and daily energy consumption data as set out above, your energy consumption data will be measured every half hour. The data will only be collected by us once a day (during a daily download of that data from your Smart meter). If you choose to allow us to take this level of data, you can change your mind and let us know at any time.

Ad hoc (on demand) meter reads
We may take ad hoc (on demand) meter reads. We will do this to maintain accurate billing, to send you a bill after changes to your account (for example if you move site), if we need to use the data to resolve a query or a complaint from you or if we think your meter may have been damaged or compromised in any way. Ad hoc (on demand) meter reads will help us understand the meter's recent activity so that we can diagnose and resolve any problems.

Contacting us to change your level of energy consumption data

You can contact us to change as follows:

Call us: 0330 100 8100or for text phone 0330 100 7557
Lines are open Monday to Thursday from 8:30am to 5:30pm, Friday from 8:30am to 5:00pm.

We will discuss the purposes for which your smart energy consumption data may be used in greater detail with you either when you contact us, or we will get in touch with you prior to your smart meter being installed, or when you transfer your energy supply over to us, so that we gain your explicit consent for us to collect and use your half hourly data. Your half-hourly smart energy consumption data will not be collected and used by us unless we get your consent to do so.

You can get in touch with us to discuss your options or change what level of energy consumption data we collect. You can change your mind about the use of your data whenever you like – but we are allowed to take monthly energy usage for the purposes set out above so that we can service your account.

If you decide that you want to change the level of smart energy consumption data that you want us to collect that change will not be reflected at a meter level for up to 2-3 days from the date that you contacted us and the smart energy consumption data for that period either may still be available to us and to you or may not be available to us or to you until your meter is updated depending on whether you were increasing or decreasing the level of energy consumption data you want to have access to.

If you have a smart meter at your site it is your responsibility to tell us if you leave.
It is essential that you tell us in advance of that move taking place so that we can arrange for your smart energy consumption data to no longer be available to any new owner or occupier via the smart energy display at your site. If you fail to let us know then we may be unable to prevent your energy consumption data being available to the incoming owner or occupier of the premises. This may also have an impact on the availability of the new occupier’s data to them as we will only be able to prevent access to your data from the date that you let us know that you have moved and that may include some data for the new customer if you have moved out and they have moved into the premises.

If you are a landlord you must notify us when your tenants move in or out.
It is essential that you tell us in advance of that move taking place so that we can arrange for the previous tenants’ smart energy consumption data to no longer be available to any new occupier via the smart energy display at your site. If you fail to let us know then we may be unable to prevent the previous tenants’ energy consumption data being available to the incoming occupier of the site. This may also have an impact on the availability of the new occupier’s data to them as we will only be able to prevent access to the previous tenants’ data from the date that you or the new occupier lets us know that the previous tenants have moved and that may include some data for the new customer if the previous tenants have moved out and the new customer has already moved in.

If you are a landlord and also the bill payer.
If you are the landlord or owner of the site we supply and are also the bill payer but you do not occupy the site (or any part thereof), we may only be able to provide you with energy consumption data that is necessary to enable us to meet our contractual and legitimate responsibilities/functions to be carried out (such as billing) are shared with you. We may be able to provide you with more granular energy consumption data if you provide us with your tenants details so that we can contact them, provide them with the purposes for which we will use their energy consumption data and seek their consent to provide you with more granular energy consumption data.

Consumption history

We are able to provide you with up to 24 months’ (or the period we have been your supplier whichever is the shorter) of energy consumption data. if that data is available from your smart meter. A smart meter is only able to store a limited amount of data so if you, for example, change your level of consent to enable us to collect more than monthly energy consumption data then we will only be able to provide you with any retrospective information at that new level of energy consumption data use if it is still available from your smart meter.

It may not be possible to purge (remove) all your energy consumption data from the systems once it has been collected. If requested we will stop processing that data unless we have a legal or regulatory right to continue to use the data to deal with your account.

Multiple meters
If your site has multiple meters, also known as related meters, (for example because you have outbuildings which have separate meters on one supply) then the level of energy consumption data use you agree to will be the level of energy consumption data use that will apply to all the meters.

Export meters
If you also have an export meter and we are the supplier to whom your energy is exported then any level of energy consumption data use you have set for your import (supply) meter will apply to your export meter if you are supplied by us.

If you are the account holder for electricity, and not the account holder for gas (or vice versa) at a site we supply, both of you will have access to the smart energy display and will be able to see how much energy you are using and the cost of that energy.

Automated decision making involves processing information about you and / or your business without human intervention to evaluate things like your financial situation or behaviour for example in the payments you make to us or other providers or where we may wish to send you more targeted marketing communications.

We sometimes use information about you and / or your business in automated processes to make decisions about you such as credit scoring. We may also use an automated process to create a profile of you.

Credit scoring

We use automated profiling to create a profile of you and / or your business so we can predict your credit worthiness based on your financial profile. To do this we use information you give to us, information we obtain from credit reference agencies as well as internal information relating to how you have used other products and services we provide to you. We analyse this information to assess the likelihood of non-payment. We use the results of that processing to make decisions about what types of products and services to offer to you, what terms and conditions we can offer you and whether we require a security deposit. In carrying out that processing we are relying on the legal basis we are taking steps to enter into or perform a contract.

Profiling for marketing

We want you to get the most relevant information about products and services we think may be of interest to you at the right time. The most effective way for us to do this is to use automated processes to create a profile of you for marketing.

To do this we use information you give to us, information we obtain in relation to how you have used other products and services you have with us, your feedback (if any) as well as information we have obtained from credit reference agencies and other external data sources like Experian who provide us with customer insights.

We use an analytical program that collates the information we hold and analyses it to create models based on previous campaigns to decide what products and services to offer to you and to prioritise the marketing messages you receive by; assessing your eligibility, how likely they are to be useful for you; and deciding how likely you are to respond. This information is not used to make any specific decisions about you as an individual.

All this activity is carried out on the basis of our legitimate interests to operate our business and to develop and improve our products and services.

We take the security of your personal information very seriously and operate to the standards required by law to protect it against unlawful or unauthorised processing. We train our staff to protect your personal information and check your details when you contact us. We maintain data security by protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your personal information so only those people who are required to access it are able to do so and those staff receive training to ensure they know how to handle your personal information in an appropriate manner.

Whilst we put in place appropriate measures the internet and electronic means of communication are not always secure. If you use those mediums to communicate with us or to receive services from us you do so at your own risk. You must ensure you keep any account and login details and passwords secure and do not disclose them to anyone. Please ensure that you log out of your account and close your browser when you have finished.

We use a third party service provider to help maintain the security and performance of our website. To deliver this service it processes the IP addresses of visitors to the website. We use a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol that provides a secure encrypted connection between you and us (the information is decrypted or put back into readable format when it reaches its destination). When you visit our website you may move in and out of secure areas. If you are requested to provide credit/debit card or bank details or any personal information to sign up to our products and services you will be in a secured area.

Although we are based in the UK we also may pass your personal information to service providers, agents and subcontractors based in countries outside the UK. We are permitted to transfer personal data outside of the UK within the European Economic Area (EEA) as they are governed by the same basic rules and are deemed to have adequate safeguards. We may also transfer data outside of the EEA. For example we outsource some of our customer and IT services to organisations based in India, the USA and South Africa.

These countries may not have the same level of data protection as we operate in the UK. To make sure we keep your information secure we apply strict safeguards when transferring and processing your information outside of the EEA. We will only transfer your personal information:

to countries approved by the European Commission as having appropriate data protection laws to ensure an adequate level of protection for your personal information; or

where we have put in place our own measures to ensure an adequate level security as required by data protection law. These measures include ensuring that your personal information is kept safe by carrying out strict security checks on our oversees agents, service providers etc. backed by strong contractual undertakings approved by the relevant regulators for example the EU style Model Clauses. Visit the ICO website www.ico.org.uk and search for 'international transfers' for more information; or

to a member organisation approved by the European Commission as having a suitable level of data protection for example the EU-US Privacy Shield which covers transfers to the US. Visit www.privacyshield.gov for more information.

If the UK exits the EEA without a withdrawal agreement (a “No-Deal” Brexit), we will continue to transfer personal data to countries within the EEA and to those countries that the European Commission has already deemed to provide adequate safeguards (including utilising the EU-US Privacy Shield) on the basis that they are also deemed to provide adequate safeguards by the British government. If we do not exit the EEA (Article 50 is revoked or delayed) or we exit with a withdrawal agreement then the position remains as set out in a) above.

We use the following criteria to determine the appropriate data retention periods for your personal data:

We'll keep your information

for as long as we need it to provide you with the products and services you have signed up to.

for as long as is necessary to deal with any queries or to resolve any disputes.

for as long as we might legally bring a claim against you or defend a claim made by you.

for as long as we might need to do so to meet our legal and regulatory requirements (for example for tax purposes, reporting to Ofgem, to meet our licence condition obligations etc.).

after you are no longer a customer and your account has been closed based on our legal and regulatory requirements.

After you are no longer a customer of ours we will retain your information for 6 years unless we require it for longer to meet our legal and regulatory requirements (for example you are in dispute with us or still owe us for energy you used whilst you were our customer). However, the reasons we need to keep your personal information can vary from one piece of information to the next and may vary in relation to the different products and services you have signed up to so the length of time we keep your information for may also vary. Any information that is no longer required for any purposes will be disposed of by an appropriate means.

a. You have the following rights in relation to how we deal with your personal information. However, in some cases where you ask us to correct, delete or stop processing your personal information we won't always be required to do so. If we believe that is the case we will explain why.

Right to withdraw consent - if you've given us consent to process your personal information you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time by utilising the available unsubscribe options to marketing emails or texts or by making changes to your preferences in your online account (if you have one) or contacting us as set out in section headed “How can I get in touch?” at the beginning of this policy.

Right to be informed - you are entitled to be told about the collection and use of your personal information. This is achieved by this policy which set outs what data we collect, how we use it and who it is shared with etc. along with giving you appropriate 'just in time' notices when we collect your information at different points in time through your dealings with us be that on the phone, by letter, via our online journeys etc.

Right to object to processing based on it being in our legitimate interests - where we rely on this legal basis to process your data (i.e. that it is fair to use your personal / business information either in our interests or under our Conditions of supply) you have the right to object. We do not have to stop processing your personal / business information if we can show that it is in our overriding interests to carry on and / or you have agreed to this under our Conditions of supply. In making this assessment we will balance our interests against yours.

Access to your personal information - you are entitled to see the personal information that we hold about you at any time so you are aware of and can verify the lawfulness of how we are using it. If you write to, email or phone us and ask to see this information, it is known as a 'subject access request' or 'SAR' for short. If it is not clear who we are dealing with or we are unsure precisely what you are asking for we may need to ask you to provide some additional information. We will not charge a fee unless your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive (particularly if it is repetitive) when we may charge you a reasonable fee for obtaining your information based on the administrative costs of providing it.

Erasure (also known as the right to be forgotten) - you have the right to have personal information deleted where it is no longer necessary for us to use it, you have withdrawn consent or we have no lawful basis to keep it.

Rectification - you can ask us to change or complete any inaccurate or incomplete or incorrect personal information that we hold about you.

Data portability - you can ask us to provide you or a third party with some of the information we hold about you in a structured, commonly used electronic form so it can be easily transferred.

Restriction - you can ask us to restrict the personal information we use about you where you have asked it to be erased or you have objected to our use of it.

You may exercise any of the rights set out above by contacting us at any time.

Call us: 0330 100 8100or for text phone 0330 100 7557
Lines are open Monday to Thursday from 8:30am to 5:30pm, Friday from 8:30am to 5:00pm.

If you wish to make a complaint about any other matter please see the details set out in the Principle Terms of our Conditions of supply or or find out how to make a complaint on our website.

If you’re still unhappy and you do not believe we have resolved your complaint you have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). They are the supervisory body that regulates how personal data is handled in the UK. If you go to them before you have contacted us they may ask you to get in touch with us first to see if we can help you and resolve your complaint before they will investigate it.

From time to time we may include hypertext links to sites which are created by individuals and companies outside of our group companies. We do this when there is a particular relevance to the topic you're reading about. Whilst we endeavour to check that the content of these sites is suitable, we unfortunately cannot take any responsibility for the practices of the companies who publish the sites that we link to, nor the integrity of the content contained within them.

This policy does not cover the links within this site linking to other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit.

Our website keyword search functionality is powered by npower. Search queries and results are logged anonymously to help us improve our website search functionality. No user-specific data is collected by us or any third party.

When you use a debit or credit card during sign up, to top up your smart meter(s) online or to make any other payments online your debit card or credit card information is transmitted using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol, this encrypts your information. We will share that information with third parties such as Payzone (smart online top up) or Netbanx who we use to process the payments for you. We may also collect your bank details for similar reasons – again these will be held securely by us and wherever possible we will only display the last four digits of your account number. We will only ever collect your credit/debit card and bank account details when you are in a secure area of our website. On the website you can see that you are in a secure area if you can see a closed padlock or “https” at the top of your screen.

If you send us a private or direct message via social media the message will be stored in accordance with the section headed “Retention Periods (whether or not you become an npower customer)”. It will not be shared with any other organisations.

When someone visits our website we currently use a third party service provider, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. These analytics enable us to see how people use our website and give us the information needed to make improvements and make our website easier to use. We also do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the website. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google Analytics to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

When someone visits our website to obtain a business energy quote we currently use a third party service provider, Energylinx, to collect the information that is submitted to enable us to provide you with a quotation for a business energy contract. This includes your postcode and address, but you do not have to tell us your name, email address or telephone number if you do not want to. If you do not complete the quotation in full Energylinx will pass your information to us and we will contact you to see if we can help provide you with a quote or to understand why you didn’t enter into a business energy contract with us. We will not use the information you submit for any other purpose.

Like most websites, we use "cookies" - small text files that are saved to your device. We test different versions of the website before we finalise changes to ensure that any improvements make it easier to use. Cookies help us to track how a user progresses through sections of our website that we are testing.

More details about cookies, how we use them and how you can disable them can be found in our cookie policy.

We will retain data you have provided to us, including journey information and device model, to monitor the performance of our website and identify any problems. All data is completely anonymous and can't be used to identify the user in any way.

This policy was updated in May 2019 and it replaces any previous policies we may have provided to you or displayed on our website.

We regularly review it and we can update it at any time so it is a good idea to check it from time to time to see if anything has changed. If we make any significant changes to this policy or to how we use your personal data we will contact you to let you know about the change and where appropriate ask for your consent.

Phone calls

We may monitor and/or record calls for security, quality or training purposes. Call charges to numbers beginning with 0800 are set by your telecoms provider, calls may be free if you are calling from a business mobile or landline but this will depend on your contract. Calls to 0330 numbers will cost you no more than 01 and 02 numbers from landlines or mobiles. If you get ‘inclusive minutes’ with your package, calls on a 0330 number will be part of these. Please check with your operator for exact charges.

Phone calls:

We may monitor and/or record calls for security, quality or training purposes. Calling us on a 0800 number should be free from all mobiles and generally free from all landlines. Calling us on a 0330 number will cost you no more than 01 or 02 numbers from landlines or mobiles. If you get ‘inclusive minutes’ with your package, calls to a 0330 number will be part of these.

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